More links will follow
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______________

Bulletin Board

Last update: Wed., February 25th, 2015

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT TO ALL
SOLICITORS AND ADVERTISERS: DO NOT CONTACT THE COLESTIN RURAL
FIRE DISTRICT BY ANY MEANS, INCLUDING PHONE CALLS, ELECTRONIC MAIL,
INSTANT MESSAGING, OR STANDARD POSTAL MAIL. PERSISTENCE IN DOING SO
MAY RESULT IN LEGAL ACTION.

ALERT: If
YOU are doing any open burning, review our safety tips here
first. Also, please notify
us ahead of time to help us avoid expending resources
on false alarm calls.

Board Election:The
Colestin Rural Fire District Board will have 3 positions up for election
in the Jackson County Regular Election on May 19th, 2015. The
open positions (#3, #4, and #5) are all for 4-year terms.
The last day to file a declaration of candidacy or nominating petition
is March 19th. Learn more.

PUBLIC NOTICE: The CRFD Budget Committee
will meet and discuss the annual budget to be proposed for fiscal
year 2015-2016 at the next Board Meeting on Tues., March 10th at 6:00
PM at the Hilt Community Church. The complete Agenda for the meeting
is posted ahead of time on our Minutes
page. View
the Budget Committee Meeting Public Notice (pdf).

ALERT: We are in desperate
need of more volunteer firefighters and medical responders.

For various reasons, most notably attrition of long-time,
older participants, we are down to a mere handful of active people
on our roster.

CRFD Board Member and firefighter Teri Thomas has recently
written and sent a letter on behalf of the Board to each of our community
members outlining this situation.

As she points out, our home insurance rates are affected
by the level of firefighting services that our District is able to
provide. Additionally, with drought and population growth, we need
more firefighting capabilities than ever before.

We need to change this situation if the District is
to continue to be effective.

Read the letter from Teri and the rest
of the Board (availablehere)
and let us hear from you. Any and all help is welcome.

We hope to see as many new faces as possible when training
starts on March 20th.

Seasonal Outlook:

Feb. 18th, 2015 (Wed.): "Spring in
February: Northwest basks in record high temps," an
AP report from Seattle in the Mail Tribune (P. A5), noting that "[t]emperatures
have crept north of 60 degrees," observes that "[t]his isn't
a typical February in the Pacific Northwest," and that "[t]he
Northwest has had a record-breaking winter, but for warm temperatures."
Calling it "one of the mildest winters" in the Northwest,
meteorologists ascribe the unseasonal weather to El Nino, which typically
produces "drier winters and wetter falls." This year's El
Nino "went from weak to neutral" but is still in effect
"throughout the region," with a glaring result: "Nearly
all ski resorts in western Washington have partially closed their
operations or shut down completely. There hasn't been enough snow."

Feb. 12th, 2015 (Thurs.): Mt. Ashland received
"21 to 31 inches of snow" from the storm systems
that moved through our region during the previous week. According
to the Mail Tribune's front-page story, "Ski area officials
praise snow," all lifts were expected to be in operation
over Presidents Day weekend "after the biggest storm in two years
dumped plentiful snow on the mountain. // "The base snow depth
was at 26 inches while upper snow depths reached 57 inches, according
to measurements taken earlier this week."

Mt. Ashland appears to be an anomaly throughout our region, however:
"The Mt. Shasta Ski Park in Northern California remains shuttered,
with only 5 inches at the base and 10 inches higher up the mountain
. . . [T]he Willamette Pass ski area outside Eugene, Hoodoo Ski Area
near Sisters and the Warner Canyon ski area outside Lakeview are among
the Oregon resorts closed by low snow." There was one bright
spot in the story - up near Bend, in central Oregon: "The Mt.
Bachelor resort has had plentiful snow and picked up another 19 inches
during the past seven days."

This isn't about elevation, however; although Mt. Bachelor is 9,065
feet at its highest elevation and Mt. Ashland is 7,500 feet at the
top, Mt. Shasta, at 14,179 feet, is nearly twice that of Mt. Ashland.
(For comparison, Hoodoo is 5,703 feet; Willamette Pass ski area is
6,683; and Warner Canyon ski area is 6,003 feet.) Instead, it appears
that we just got lucky this time. To put this in perspective, the
historical annual average snowfall at Mt. Ashland is 300 inches, or
25 feet; the current 57 inches is only just over one-sixth of that
amount.

Although our snowpack remains well below normal, even with the recent
storms, our water year is more promising at this time:
the gauge at the Medford airport, from which we derive our seasonal
total figure, is at 12.82 inches; the normal seasonal total
to date is 11.43 inches. Based on weather records dating
from 1928, the average annual total rainfall for Medford to Ashland
is approximately 19 inches, so we are about two-thirds of the way
there, just ahead of the curve as of this date.

So - should we worry already, with rainfall levels in such good shape?
A separate report on statewide conditions, "Oregon snowpack
below average," also in the Feb. 12, Mail Tribune (front-page,
sidebar), provides additional perspective:

"[T]he Oregon snowpack is well below average despite normal
precipitation this winter" due to high [elevation] snow levels
that "have prevented the accumulation of mountain snow that is
needed to maintain stream flows through the summer." . . . the
snowpack is less than half of average in western and central portions
of Oregon. Eastern parts of the state are a little better but still
below average. The Oregonian reports some monitoring stations near
Mount Hood have recorded no snow for the first time in three decades."

In other words, winter snowfall is again much less than it should
be, even though it is locally somewhat better than last year. This
is true not just here but across much of the West. It is becoming
a trend - the new "normal" - whether we use the "double-C"
word or just stick with the "D" word to describe it.

While Rogue valley irrigation and water districts will have some
water this summer, low mountain snowpack levels will inevitably impact
those of us living at higher elevations, and will, amongst other things,
produce a potentially treacherous fire season. Unless this situation
changes, this is the reality we must prepare ourselves for.

According to the Mail Tribune's front-page story on Sat.,
January 31st, 2015, "High
and dry: Record low snowpack worries irrigators, resorts,"
this year's snowpack thus far has set a new record at "just 18
percent of average - less than the 22 percent of average that set
a record this time last year." Some places, according to the
Portland-based Natural Resources Conservation Service, are at even
lower levels, such as Diamond Lake, which by Fri. [Jan. 30th] was
still listed as "snowless, something that's never been seen there,"
and Howard Prairie Reservoir, which "limped into this winter
nearly dry from last year's summer drought" and is now "ice-free
and snowless from a warm January." Although winter officially
has nearly two months still when this could change, "Federal
climate forecasters are predicting continued warmer-than-average temperatures,"
suggesting any moisture will materialize as rain, not snow. That said,
any moisture is preferable to drought, and equal chances for normal
precipitation are still in the outlook.

On Sun., January 4th, 2015, the Mail Tribune reported
a similar story: "Drought-plagued
reservoirs need the white stuff to recover." An
excerpt:
" Meteorologist Steve Pierce's message is everyone should have
a good idea by Jan. 15 whether this current winter creates reservoir
recovery in Jackson County or not. // Ocean currents are favoring
an El Niño pattern that typically generates warmer storm patterns
that bring more rain than snow to southwestern Oregon, a pattern that
historically doesn't help snow-dependent reservoirs such as Hyatt,
Howard Prairie and Emigrant. // Typically, mid-January snowpack can
foreshadow what lies ahead for the rest of the winter in the Cascades,
Pierce says. // "If we get to Jan. 15 without a good snowpack
in the Cascades, the odds go way down that we'll get to average,"
says Pierce, president of the Oregon Chapter of the American Meteorological
Society."

According to the NOAA's most recent
drought report (released Jan. 15th),
our region is between "Severe (D2)" and "Extreme (D3)"
drought. The outlook
through this April (also released Jan. 15th) indicates
that "Drought persists or intensifies" in our region. This
designation also covers nearly 3/4 of Oregon (excepting the northwest
quarter), all of the upper 2/3 of both California and Nevada, and
much of southeastern Washington, northern Utah, and southwestern and
central Idaho.

The latest Drought
summaries (narratives) to date by region, with short-term
(week-ahead) projections, show that, in the Pacific Northwest, "So
far, winter has not been markedly wet or dry in general across the
Cascades, but it has been warmer than normal, and snowpack is low
for this time of year. As a result, D0 ["abnormally dry"]
conditions were expanded to cover the Oregon Cascades..."

The NOAA's
2014 Global Climate Recap report has also just been released,
with findings that "In 2014, the combined land and ocean surface
temperature was 1.24°F (0.69°C) above the 20th century average,
making the year the warmest since records began in 1880. [. . .] The
20 warmest years in the historical record have all occurred in the
past 20 years. Except for 1998, the 10 warmest years on record have
occurred since 2002."

As early as last September, a weak El Nino weather pattern was in
the longer-range forecasts for this winter, suggesting a warmer and
drier winter. (See "Winter forecast: Clear skies ahead?
Early predictions of an El Nino winter give way to talk of another
dry season," Mail Tribune, p. 1A, Sun., Sept.
14, 2014.) According to that report, "most models"
for early winter showed "drier than normal, transitioning to
equal chances" for precipitation later in the season. While later-February,
2015, water totals have improved, warmer than usual temperatures have
prevented much of the needed snowpack from forming.

All of the above presages another very scary, potentially volatile
fire season ahead.

Even more than last year, we are going
to need very serious vigilance with the increased fire potential,
and a super-responsive, super-effective firefighting crew.

FYI:If
you missed "Big Burn: American Experience"(1 hr) on SOPTV (KSYS) on Tues. Feb. 3rd,
or the repeat on Thurs., Feb. 5th, you can still see it online at
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/burn/player/.
SOPTV's program description states:
"In the summer of 1910, an unimaginable wildfire devoured more
than three million acres across the Northern Rockies, confronting
the fledgling U.S. Forest Service with a catastrophe that would define
the agency and the nation’s fire policy for the rest of the
20th century and beyond. This documentary provides a cautionary tale
of heroism and sacrifice, arrogance and greed, hubris and, ultimately,
humility in the face of nature’s frightening power. Inspired
by the best-selling book by Timothy Egan." This event inaugurated
a policy of fire prevention, rather than "let it burn,"
eventually causing the heavy build-up of volatile fuel loads that
characterizes wildfires now - a policy often hotly debated (as it
were), always under serious scrutiny, and one that directly affects
the level of danger our own firefighters now must cope with.

Of interest: "Woodland owners have much to offer," forestry
consultant and contractor Marty Main's Guest Opinion in the Thurs.,
Jan. 29th, 2015, Mail Tribune: "Today, we are
confronted with increasing amounts of high-severity fire with negative
effects... [. . .] ...if fire historically visited most forest sites
every 5-20 years, as current research suggests, and the change toward
more large, severe fires has been the result of decisions we as a
society have made (e.g., put out all the fires while creating more
flammable forests), then we can, once again, choose another path.
Our money and efforts are better spent supporting management activities
designed to reduce fire severity before wildfire visits our forests
than after it has occurred..." To learn more about creating a
less fire-prone landscape through a diversified strategy to forest/woodland
management, see Fire
Protection (under Info & Resources) at the Jackson-Josephine
Small Woodlands Association website.

Fire Service Appreciation Day 2015: According
to The Communique, Annual Fire Service Appreciation Day is
held in late January every year. This year, it is being held on Tuesday,
January 27th.

In keeping with passage of HJR 25, events are held across the state
to recognize and honor the fire service. HJR 25 'encourages all citizens
of Oregon to recognize and honor our fire service members for their
efforts to keep our citizens safe from the ravages of fire.' Communities
across the state have "an opportunity to host a variety of events
recognizing members of their local fire departments and districts
for their dedication, commitment and sacrifice."

This year, according
to the Oregon State Fire Marshal's office, "State
Fire Marshal Jim Walker is encouraging communities across the state
to show appreciation to everyone involved in the fire service for
their dedication and commitment to helping others. Oregon follows
the national trend with approximately 70% of firefighters in the state
performing their duties as volunteers. Fire Service Appreciation Day
is an opportunity for everyone to say thanks to volunteer and full-time
firefighters alike for their time, talent, and sacrifice."

The Oregon Dept. of Forestry announced on Jan. 7th,
2015, that it is offering fire hazard fuel reduction grants
to eligible residents in Southwest Jackson County. While
the focus for these grants is on properties in the Applegate and Bear
Creek areas in the Rogue Valley, the ODF also states that:

" If landowners outside of the grant areas are
interested in having a free/no obligation property assessment
with regard to wildland fire safety, they are also encouraged
to call (541) 664-3328." [. . .]

A limited supply
of our 2014 "Year
of the Cat" Fundraising T-Shirts and
Sweatshirts is still available. These one-of-a-kind shirts,
with the slogan "Year of the Cat"
in recognition of our new district firefighting dozer, are
collector's editions, made in 2014 only! (The shirt design
was created by Pam Haunschild, CRFD Board Member and grant writer.)

CRFD-logo Hats are also still available.

Sweatshirts [above] are $28.00 (90% cotton, 10% polyester).

Pocket T-Shirts [left] are $17.00 (100% cotton).

Hats with CRFD's logo are $15.00.

All items are in Navy Blue, with designs as shown.

Some sizes of shirts from previous years are also still available
(see images on our fundraising
page).

All sales proceeds help to raise funds for needed specialized items
that are beyond our annual budgetary provisions.

Home fires often become devastating and sometimes deadly
not because there weren't any smoke detectors, BUT BECAUSE THE BATTERIES
HAVE FAILED, delaying discovery. This is avoidable! Working smoke
detectors provide a crucial time advantage and can help to save your
home, your life, and the lives of your family members. Make
sure your smoke detectors are all working, with FRESH batteries.

Ongoing FREE 10-MINUTE HANDS-ONLY CPR
TRAINING: If you missed this opportunity to get trained
in Hands-Only CPR at one of our previous events, you still can.
Learn more.

UPDATE:The
Colestin/Hilt Emergency Preparedness Plan Leadership Group held
itsfirst meeting on Sat., January
18th, 2014. Our newly launched Emergency Preparedness Plan Project
is in recognition of the increasing need to be able to effectively
respond to significant emergency events here in our valley, and to
provide help and leadership through the District to our residents.
Learn more about our Emergency
Preparedness Plan Project on our
new page dedicated to developing our emergency preparedness
resources.

The Lomakatsi Restoration Project conductedlow-intensity
prescribed burning in our valley on Wednesday, Feb. 18th, 2015, and
Thursday, Feb. 19th. The burning of brush piles occurred
on private property along Goat Ranch Road in the lower valley, by
pre-arrangement with the owner. This prescribed burn was not related
to another burn a few days earlier done by a private landowner "located
between Colestin Road and I-5."

Lomakatsi also recently conducted a prescribed burn on Friday,
January 30th in the Colestin valley, on a private property near Goat
Ranch Road, after receiving clearance from the ODF. Adjacent
landowners were notified ahead of that date. See Lomakatsi's
announcement flyer.

All burns are always contingent upon getting air quality clearance
from the Oregon Department of Forestry's smoke management forecasting.
The CRFD receives maps of designated burn locations and also is notified
just ahead of each actual burn.

Low-intensity prescribed fire controlled burns are by arrangement
with participating residents as part of a program to reduce woodland
fuel loads through density thinning and slash treatments and to restore
oak habitat.

Previously, the Lomakatsi Restoration Project conducted
several prescribed burning projects on private properties within the
Colestin Valley during the fall of 2014 (from Nov. 1st to Dec. 1st).
See Lomakatsi's announcement
flyer for additional information on that burn.

Prescribed fire controlled burns were also done during the fall of
2013 through March, 2014 by Greyback Forestry, Inc., contracted by
the Lomakatsi Restoration Project in partnership with the U.S. Fish
& Wildlife Service on private lands within our district. For details,
see Lomakatsi's site under "News & Events" and the link
to Colestin area work with photos at lomakatsi.org/prescribed-fire-colestin-11-1-13/;
also see Lomakatsi's
flyer, "Colestin Valley Prescribed Hand Pile Burn
Notification, Potential Operation Dates: November 2013 through March
2014" (pdf format), and Lomakatsi's
Nov. 2013 flyer, "Colestin Valley Prescribed Fire
Notification," Nov. 1 - 18, 2013, (jpg image; allow approx. 30
seconds to load).

For questions or more information about about prescribed burning
projects or about participating in Lomakatsi's fuel reduction program,
see www.lomakatsi.org
or contact them at info@lomakatsi.org
or 541-488-0208.

HELP WITH FUEL REDUCTION
AND OAK WOODLAND RESTORATION:

For those who are thinking ahead, since these projects need advance
planning, here is some information for you to consider:

The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, run out of the Klamath
Falls Fish and Wildlife Office, is available to help private landowners
restore oak woodland.

"The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program works with private
landowners and other partners providing financial and technical assistance
to achieve voluntary habitat restoration," according to the Program
brochure.

The Program also includes assistance in identifying areas that could
benefit from prescribed fire, and in connecting landowners with additional
organizational resources in order to help fund and carry out approved
prescribed burning plans. (Due to multiple such events during the
fall of 2011, prescribed burns now also need to be coordinated with
the fire district, partly for fire safety and partly because of the
need to limit smoke in the valley.)

Dave Ross, Fish and Wildlife Biologist with the Klamath office, says
that they have experience working together with both the Lomakatsi
Restoration Project and the Natural Resources Conservation Service,
with each organization handling a different aspect of a project, several
of which have successfully occurred here in the Colestin valley in
recent years.

"All three of us work closely together in partnership fashion
to leverage funding, expertise and programs," Ross says.

This is a 13-week in-the-field course that promotes responsible land
management by assisting small-acreage landowners in developing a land
management plan for personal land-use goals. The Extension's announcement
states: "The course is targeting land owners who want to learn
how to balance sustainability with their rural lifestyles."

Taught by Natural Resource professionals, the course provides handouts,
references, further resources, professional presentations, and field
trip site visits to augment the information.

The current course is held at Jackson County's OSU partnership office,
the Southern
Oregon Research & Extension Center (SOREC) at 569 Hanley Road,
Central Point OR 97503; Phone: (541) 776-7371 (Mon.-Fri., 8:00
am - 5:00 pm). Dates & times are Sept. 11 to Nov. 13th, on Thursdays
from 1-5:30 PM.

The cost before Sept. 1st was $150 per person ($200 per couple); after
Sept. 2nd, the cost rose to $175 per person ($225 per couple). Pre-payment
is required; "Scholarships and payment plans are available for
those in need."

For more information on this fall's course or future sessions of this
course, and for application and registration information, email Rhianna
Simes, Coordinator, at rhianna.simes@oregonstate.edu, or call (541)
776-7371 ext. 211, or see http://extension.oregonstate.edu/sorec/land-steward-program.

The above-titled editorial by Bob Sipchen was carried in the Mail Tribune
(Medford, OR) on Saturday, August 3rd, 2013, and was originally published
by the Los Angeles Times on Sun. July 28th. A brief excerpt follows:

"Along with barked orders and the whine of chain saws, the clank
of steel on rock was certainly one of the sounds that rose from a hillside
near Yarnell, Ariz., last month as clouds of superheated smoke roiled
the sky, portending a tragedy . . .

". . . I knew that for the firefighters, at least one thing that
has been offered up as consolation is rooted in truth: They did die
doing what they loved, and part of what they loved was the danger.

"I've come to doubt, however, another often-voiced cliche: 'They
understood the risks.'

"A federal study released this year joins a growing body of literature
connecting the frequency and intensity of wildfires worldwide to the
global climate disruption that we have created by living lives dependent
on the burning of fossil fuels. The Granite Mountain Hotshots may well
have known about this connection. I'm confident that neither hotshots
nor anyone else yet has a clue what it all means for the future of computer-modeled
firefighting strategy, let alone about the multitude of life-or-death
judgment calls firefighters make in any given wildfire."

The complete article may be read on the Los Angeles Times' website at:

For those who missed the above article published by the Mail Tribune
(Medford, OR) on July 6th, 2013, a few excerpted bits follow:

"There's a dangerous but basic equation behind Arizona's killer
Yarnell Hill wildfire and other blazes raging across the West this summer:

"More heat, more drought, more fuel and more people in the way
are adding up to increasingly ferocious fires...

"While no single wildfire can be pinned solely on climate change,
researchers say there are signs that fires are becoming bigger and more
common in an increasingly hot and bonedry West...

Wildfires are chewing through twice as many acres per year on average
in the United States compared with 40 years ago...

" 'These huge fires are the new normal,' said John Glenn, chief
of fire operations for the federal Bureau of Land Management. 'Look
at any touchstone - global warming, fuels, invasive species, forest
and rangeland health issues - and then you throw in the urban interface.
It's almost like this perfect mix. What used to be the anomaly is almost
like the normal now.' "

A version of the same story appeared in The Huffington Post on July
5th:

Our hearts are with all of those
grieving the loss of the 19 Granite Mountain hotshot firefighters of
Prescott, Arizona, killed on Sunday, June 30th, in
the Yarnell Hill Fire near the central AZ town of Yarnell (northwest
of Phoenix).

The fire, initially sparked by lightning on Friday, June 28th, blazed
out of control in triple-digit temperatures and erratic, gusty, hot
winds under the state's long-term drought conditions. By Sunday, under
the intense peak heat of the day, an unanticipated major wind shift
from the southeast caused the fire to blow up to an estimated 2,000
acres. The 19 hotshot crew members, trapped with no escape and overtaken,
deployed emergency fire shelters as a last-resort measure; tragically,
there was insufficient time, and the heat was far too unendurable, for
survival. The Yarnell Hill Fire of nearly 9,000 total acres within mere
days is now the deadliest wildfire for firefighters in the U.S. in 80
years.

The CRFD stands in unity with Prescott, its fire department, and its
community in the wake of this horrific event. We solemnly observe, salute,
and honor the courage and bravery of the 19 members of the hot shot
crew and their ultimate sacrifice.

The Fri. April 26th, 2013, edition of the Mail Tribune contained (the)
"Firebrand," a small newspaper insert with
some great fire prevention information. This edition
has really useful, timely articles:

The Firebrand is published by the Rogue Valley Fire Prevention
Cooperative, a non-profit group of fire prevention organizations
based in southern Oregon, and "supports the mission of the RVFPC,
and the outreach and education action items in the Jackson County Integrated
Fire Plan... [a]rticles also highlight projects that protect homes and
wildlands from wildfire, and promote healthy, productive wildland environments.
// The Firebrand also supports emergency preparedness for families,
pets and livestock, and provides information about preventing fires
inside the home."

For those who may have missed it, check out this commentary on defensible
space as a crucial strategy for lessening your vulnerability in a wildfire:
"Colorado
wildfires hold a lesson for Oregonians" by Kristin
Babbs, published in the Mail Tribune (Medford), July 24th, 2012. (The
Tribune now allows 3 free guest visits for reading articles if you are
not a subscriber.)

During lightning storms, we rely heavily on the Soda Mountain
fire lookout, staffed for the past 24 years by Ken Struck and
his wife. Situated twelve miles east of Ashland and over 6,000 feet
high, with a bird's-eye view of our district, Ken watches storms, and
tracks lightning hits, smoke, and new fire starts using binoculars and
a firefinder to pinpoint the exact locations.

Soda Mountain is one of ODF's two last full-time manned fire lookouts
in the Southwest Oregon District, as people are replaced by technology
at fire lookout stations. Paul Fattig's article in the Medford Mail
Tribune is a tribute to Ken and the work he does, as well as
an interesting history of the Soda Mountain lookout station.

We in the Colestin-Hilt district continue to greatly appreciate Ken's
watchful presence and long-experienced, knowledgeable assistance from
Soda Mountain, particularly during lightning storms, and in general,
throughout each fire season.

You may have noticed the large fire safety awareness
signs that have been in rotation on our fire danger indicator
sign structure near Hilt (just south of the CA-OR border) following
the end of the 2011 fire season. (The current sign asks, "Do you
have a fire plan?" with a diagram of possible escape routes.)

These signs were done and donated to our district
by Patty Hood of CalFire. A huge thanks to Patty, for
providing these very visible signs, readable from the road, to enhance
fire safety in our valley!

Food for thought:Mt. Ashland Ski Area has been raising funds "to recover from
the worst snow year in 20 ski seasons." This is what our local
snowpack was really like last winter [2011-12], despite the water year
report. (Source: The Mail Tribune, Medford, OR., 6/25/12, p. 4A.)

Long-time CRFD member Cheri Avgeris retired in January,
2011,from the Fire District after over 28 years of volunteer service
to our community. A Board member for nearly all of the past 28 years
as well as a firefighter and a First Responder throughout these years,
Cheri later became our Medical Director for the District's First Responder
Emergency Medical Services.

Recently at our annual community picnic, Cheri was given public recognition
and honored for her long years of selflessly dedicated service and commitment
to the District, complementing a commemorative plaque presented to her
by the Board upon her retirement this past year. A brief overview of
Cheri's many contributions is available on our Personnel
page.

Public meetings followed by a hearing have recently been heldfor the purpose of explaining Jackson County Forestland-Urban
Interface Classification Committee's land identification and classification
process, as part of the implementation of the Oregon Forestland-Urban
Interface Fire Protection Act, often referred to as Senate Bill 360.

The Jackson County Forestland-Urban Interface Classification Committee
and the Oregon Department of Forestry sent letters to more than 13,000
landowners within Jackson county informing them of five public meetings
that were held in January 2011. The meetings were to explain the land
identification and classification process performed by the committee,
as required by the Oregon Forestland-Urban Interface Fire Protection
Act, often referred to as Senate Bill 360.

The owners of lots affected by the Oregon Forestland-Urban Interface
Fire Protection Act are required to create fuel breaks around their
homes and other structures to make homes and other buildings more defensible
against wildfire.

2010 was the centennial anniversary of 1910's Big Burn, the
firestorm that burned millions of acres in Oregon, Washington, Idaho
and Montana. Also called the Big Blowup of 1910, the
firestorm was the result of multiple fires that started in June and
merged on August 20th, burning three million acres in just twenty-four
hours, and killing 84 people. The U.S. Forest Service headed centennial
commemmorations. You can learn more at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/1910-centennial/.
The July-Aug. 2010 issue of AAA's "Via" magazine (p.
17) also has a short article on this.

Colestin's name (finally spelled correctly!) makes the news:
See The Mail
Tribune on Sunday, November 16th, 2008, for reporter Paul Fattig's
article entitled

"Drop the 'e' and keep your hands up where we can see them: It's
Colestin, not Colestine; got it?"

Jackson County Integrated Fire Plan

Planned Community Wildfire Meetings are part of countywide wildfire
protection. Discussion topics include information you need to live safely
in wildfire country, the fire planning process, how your neighborhood
can be more wildfire safe, and meeting your local fire service providers.
Representatives from local Jackson County Fire Districts, Oregon Department
of Forestry, Rogue River/Siskiyou National Forest, and Medford BLM attend
these meetings.

For information about any currently planned community meetings,
contact:

UPDATE: In August,
2008, the BLM's Medford district office published a "Record
of Decision and Resource Management Plan" for the Cascade-Siskiyou
National Monument which includes information indicating that the energy
corridor under discussion has been sited near the Klamath area and to
the east of Ashland instead of running through our valley. Copies of this
document are available from the BLM at its Medford District Office, 3040
Biddle Rd., Medford, OR., 97504.

The following concerns
CRFD's position on the federal West-wide
Energy Corridor DPEIS (Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement), concerning the 3,500-foot wide power corridor that could have
run directly through our district. The public comment period on the draft
plans ended on February 14th, 2008.

At the January, 2008, Board meeting, Lisa [Buttrey] provided the Board
with background information and maps, pointed out issues of concern, and
suggested talking points about this project.

The law allowing for the creation of this project was passed in 2005;
the plan itself was released in mid-November of 2007. The plan is to have
a 2/3rds-mile-wide pipeline/power-line corridor in the Valley. A number
of these corridors are proposed throughout the west to handle the power
sources (propane, gas, etc.) that is needed to keep up with increasing
fuel needs in the country.

After discussion at the January meeting, the Board took the position
that this area is not the best to locate this project. Not only are there
environmental and geological concerns, but also the financial costs of
going through the Siskiyou Mountains would be astronomical. Areas of eastern
Oregon, which are flat and uninhabited, would be a far better place to
locate the project.

The Board passed a motion directing the fire district, as the local agency,
to send a letter outlining these concerns, as the project is currently
proposed. Peggy Moore, as the Board Chair, was appointed to write the
letter on behalf of the District.

The CRFD's letter in response to the West Wide Energy Corridor
DPEIS follows:

At our January 18th Board of Directors meeting, we passed a unanimous
motion to provide written comments on the proposed Corridor (#4-247)
through the Siskiyou Crest from Oregon into California. As the fire
protection agency that is responsible for this area (for both fire and
emergency medical) we STRONGLY oppose locating the corridor in this
area.

There are a variety of reasons for our concerns but we believe the
environmental, geological and financial arguments are the most salient
and deserve your focused attention.

. The Colestin Valley and Siskiyou Pass area are well known as unstable
in terms of their geology. Siskiyou literally means “moving mountain”.
Slumps, shifts and collapses are fairly frequent in the area. As a result
of one of these natural occurrences the Colestin Valley must now employ
a receiver to rebroadcast telephone signals because the cable was rendered
unusable by earth movement along its route.

. Interstate 5 is a vital transportation highway from Mexico to Alaska.
Many of the trucks using this route on a daily basis carry toxic wastes,
including nuclear waste. In addition, essential supplies of all kinds
are hauled on this route day and night. Accidents happen frequently,
sometimes closing the highway or rending one lane or another impassable.

. This particular stretch along Interste 5 (proposed corridor #4-247)
is the longest stretch of 6% grade on the interstate system. Along with
instability and bottleneck problems, the expense of putting lines across
the Siskiyou Pass would be enormous. There are certainly locations in
the state of Oregon that are flat, have far less interstate traffic
and reside in more geologically stable environments. Areas in sparsely
populated Eastern Oregon might be a consideration.

. The proposal, as we understand it, will make the Klamath River dam
substation a destination for the proposed energy corridor. In doing
so, you are targeting a substation connected to a dam that may soon
be dismantled when court-ordered priority concerns for Klamath River
salmon prevent re-licensing of Klamath River dams.

. The energy corridor segment, which is proposed for California’s
Jenny Creek Falls, is a Redding BLM area of critical environmental concern.

We appreciate that when notified by many concerned citizens you moved
the original 3,500 foot energy corridor out of the Cascade-Siskiyou
National Monument, but we still believe that for the reasons stated
above, putting it in this region at all is a serious mistake.

We are a small, entirely volunteer fire district that, for 25 years,
has provided needed fire and emergency medical services to the residents
of our community. We simply do not have the resources, nor are more
likely to appear, to support a crisis occasioned by a “mega”
corridor .The location of our area makes it difficult (and at times
impossible) for outside agencies to respond in a timely fashion.

We believe, once these facts are reviewed and the costs of locating
the corridor in this area thoroughly researched that [the desirability
of] finding a more geologically friendly, more cost effective and less
populated traffic area will become clear.

We would be happy to provide further information to you on this matter.
Thank you for your attention to our concerns and we hope that you will
find a more hospitable location for this project.

For a more complete, easy-to-understand summary of the plan
as it may affect us locally, together with issues to consider, maps, and
further information, see the (PDF-format) article "West-wide
Energy Corridors Routes Planned," published in the Jan.-Feb.
2008 issue of The Colestin Valley Buzz, and re-published
here with publisher Lisa Buttrey's permission.

Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) News:

In June, 2005, the Fire Plan Committee (John Ames, Elaine Shanafelt,
and Lisa Buttrey) completed and released the Colestin-Hilt Community
Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) that was in the works for over
a year. In addition to a public presentation of the main points of the
plan by Committee Chair and Coordinator Lisa Buttrey at the community
barbeque on Saturday, June 18th, the plan is now available in detail here
on our site, through our Colestin-Hilt
Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) page.

"The completed plan," according to Lisa Buttrey,
"has an Intro section, a Description section, a brief 'Risks' section,
and finally the meat of the document in the last section, 'The Action
Plan,' followed by the 'Appendices.' "The Action Plan gives detailed
ideas for things to do and calls for volunteers to do them. [We] hope
to get a few 'Action' items assigned to willing takers (from outside
the fire department proper!)."

The Plan has an enormous wealth of information in it, and
reflects a tremendous amount of time, extensive research, many meetings
with other fire agency and county officials, and hard work. The result
is a document that provides a working plan of action for our community
to pro-actively achieve a much better level of fire prevention and protection
and disaster preparedness than we have ever known. We are also now in
compliance, ahead of schedule, and coordinated with the County's new regional
fire plan. Check
out the Plan on our CWPP page.

Also of interest are some very interesting articles
that were edited out of the final CWPP: "Geology of the Districts,"
a summary by local resident Russell Juncal, and according to Lisa, "very
readable for all residents." The second is "Fire Regimes,
Fire History and Forest Conditions in the Klamath-Siskiyou Region: An
Overview and Synthesis of Knowledge, by Evan J. Frost and Rob
Sweeney. Lisa states that this is "a scientific paper, quite lengthy
at 59 pages, but full of info about fire history, fire regimes, suppression
history, logging impact on fire, etc." A third article that was not
considered part of the official plan but that is also relevant is a Homeowner's
Safety Checklist from the Fire Safe Council. All
of these articles are now available through our CWPP page as well.

Josephine County's Plan, by comparison:
On January 18, 2006, the Oregon Dept. of Forestry announced in a press
release that Josephine County's Integrated Fire Plan has been awarded
statewide recognition: "Josephine County was recently chosen to receive
the 2005 Partners for Disaster Resistance and Resilience Outstanding Natural
Hazards Mitigation Plan. Josephine County was recognized for the collaborative
planning effort that resulted in the Josephine County Integrated Fire
Plan..." To learn more about how our neighboring
county has prepared a fire plan that has now been recognized throughout
the state of Oregon, read the full text of ODF's
Josephine County Integrated Fire Plan press release (Jan.
18, 2006).

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS:

We need to continue to be aware of cougars near our homes.
For updated details on local cougar attacks, information on cougar behavior,
and safety tips for cougar encounters, see our community
page.

DEAD DEER:

SPECIAL NOTE: Dead deer have been found in our area,
due to a virus disease. If you find one, the OR. Dept. of Fish & Wildlife
requests that you report it to Steve Neimela at (541) 826-8774 x239. See
our community forum page for details.